But while on vacation, I do carry a small pad and a ball point pen in my back pocket.

It's not meant to document everything I see as much as it's there to fill up down time.

I would never impose on my family to sit and wait for me to draw, but rather I would break it out while we were waiting for a plane, sitting on a train, souvenir shopping, looking at art in a museum, or stopping to use the restroom.

They're done quickly, most in a minute or two.

When added to the hundreds of photos, countless little pieces of paper, receipts and Donna's journal, it bring the memories flooding back..

This year was a special vacation. Donna and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

Andrew just finished his undergraduate degree and Alyssa her second year at Rutgers, so I don't know when, if ever, we will get a chance to all travel like this together.

We laughed a lot, drank and ate a lot, walked a lot, saw so much history and art, and absorbed the atmosphere and culture of Rome, Florence, and Capri.

Ten days I'll always remember.

Ciao!

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Ball point pen on Italian Newsprint

Ten days in Italy with my family was a trip of a lifetime. Rome, Capri, Florence, food, wine, history and art, Molto Bene! I'm happy, refreshed and champing at the bit.

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Ball point pen on the morning newsprint

The Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, Silvio Berlusconi is hosting the G8 Summit. This doodle goes out to my son Andrew, who is studying abroad and today is probably baffled by all the traffic and congestion being he's in Rome, Italy along with eight of the most powerful men on the planet. Enjoy Capri this weekend Andrew!

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